I was wondering whether it is possible to damage the seat tube of a aluminium frame by over tightening a quick release seat collar, or in other words is it possible to over tighten a QR seat collar and how do you tell if you have? What constitutes 'normal' pressure for closing a QR lever?
When I changed the bolt on my seat collar for a QR I noticed a bit of sinking in the post over every few rides. The guys in a couple of bike shops that I've talked to about this have simply wound the QR tighter by a turn or two until the problem is solved but the result is that it now takes quite a bit of pressure to close the QR lever and, I imagine, that this must put a fair amount of force onto the tube and flex it a fair bit (I thought aluminium wasn't good at being flexed).
There is approx. a 4mm gap between the edges of the slot in the seat tube with the collar fully closed. The seat tube iteself is 31.2 and the post is 26.6 and shimmed in correctly.
I'm not completely sure about aluminum, but usually, the QR should meet resistance about halfway through it's swing. IOW, when it's in line with the spindle.
May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris
